https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7890-1963
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Abstract
In 2018, we sought to understand the difference in pedagogical training opportunities and demand within political science departments across the U.S. through surveys of political scientists. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic forced faculty to rethink the way they do assessment and lectures resulting in stress and burnout. To measure attitudes, resources, and opportunities for teaching and teacher-training in this new environment, we once again surveyed American Political Science Association (APSA) members. Using APSA membership provides a large pool of political scientists, however as a sample it may skew toward more tenure and tenure-track faculty at larger universities. With that caveat, almost all APSA members in our 2021 survey reported that their in-person courses were converted to a remote, hybrid, or web assisted format in the 2020 to 2021 period. While morale and confidence in teaching declined during the pandemic, interest in offering alternative forms of teaching like synchronous remote courses increased. Respondents found pedagogy training more important following the pandemic, despite a decline in participation. Furthermore, interest in this training remained stable between prepandemic and postpandemic periods. These findings suggest that declining participation in these activities is more reflective of a lack of time and institutional rewards rather than less interest in training opportunities. These shifting attitudes call for increased opportunities for pedagogy training. As with prior findings, incentives would encourage political scientists to increase their participation in pedagogy training as many do not feel rewarded for their teaching efforts.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the people who took their valuable time to review different aspects of this project. This project would not have been possible without the assistance of the research staff at the American Political Science Association, especially Erin McGrath. While they did not see the manuscript, the following people provided important feedback on our questions: Victor Asal, Wendy Johnston, Wesley Nishiyama, Jessica Pidgeon, Patricia Strach, and Julie Novkov. Panel attendees and discussants at the 2016 Teaching and Learning Conference, the 2019 Southern Political Science Conference, and the 2019 Midwest Political Science Conference provided critical feedback on our 2020 paper that helped us revise the survey for this article.
Notes
1 Tenured (47%, 125 individuals) or tenure track faculty (18%, 49 individuals) at Ph.D. granting institutions were the most common respondents.
2 The survey was administrative and the content posed little risk to human subjects. Participants gave their informed consent to the following statement:
The APSA is sensitive to the accuracy and privacy of the data collected in our surveys and evaluations.
Only aggregate data will be used in reports, except when the groups are sufficiently large to preserve the anonymity of respondents. APSA will not publish information that attributes any data reported in this evaluation to a specific individual.
Participation in this evaluation is voluntary and strongly encouraged to increase the value of the data for our members and in support of the discipline as a whole. Please complete the evaluation to reflect your opinions and experiences as accurately as possible.
ELECTRONIC CONSENT: Please select your choice below. You may print a copy of this page for your records. Clicking on the “I agree” button indicates that:
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3 This response rate is comparable to our 2018 sample which out of 2000 members surveyed, 318 responded and 236 filled out at least one of our questions. Since there was not a separate 2021 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, we were unable to provide a comparable sample for this survey.
4 See Supplementary Appendix A for demographic data as asked by APSA. Note on demographic categories: In accordance with APSA reporting, the other race/ethnicity category includes data for those that identified as Middle Eastern or Arab American, other, or two or more racial/ethnic groups due to the small sample sizes (APSA Citation2020). Asian includes those that identified as East Asian or Asian American and South Asian or Indian American. The other sex/gender category includes those identifying as other and genderqueer. Unknown race/ethnicity and unknown sex/gender categories include those that preferred not to answer. Other for current position includes unemployed, retired, K-12 teacher, research organization or think tank, and lecturer. NA, prefer not to answer, and blank responses were listed as unknown.
5 The following questions and potential responses were similar to those asked in the 2018 survey:
Please select your participation in the following teaching related opportunities that may have been or currently are available at your institution. You may select more than one answer.
How important are the following instruments for your department in evaluating teaching for purposes of hiring, tenure, promotion, merit review, or contract renewal?
In your opinion, what would encourage individual faculty members in your department to participate in more pedagogical training activities?
In your opinion, what would encourage graduate assistants in your department to participate in more pedagogical training activities?
In your opinion, to what extent would the following factors encourage your department to provide more pedagogical training opportunities?
6 The use of remote and virtual were used interchangeably at the start of the pandemic as reflected in our survey questions. However, the now more commonly used term remote is used to report our results throughout for consistency. Remote courses may provide synchronous learning via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other platforms. This differs from online courses which are asynchronous in nature.
7 This quotation and all future quotations from survey participants are in response to the question “Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your teaching experience or opportunities to participate in pedagogy training programs since February 2020?”
8 These respondents included: 1 Full Professor from a Ph.D. granting institution, 3 Associate Professors from Ph.D. granting institutions, 4 Graduate Students from Ph.D. granting institutions, 1 Associate Professor from an MA-granting institution, and 2 Full Professors from 4-year BA granting institutions. In addition to these 11 responses, 1 additional respondent also selected “Don’t Know/Unsure” and 2 other respondents selected multiple other options.
9 Responses from two participants that selected both “Yes, my department rewards my teaching efforts.” and “No, I am not rewarded for my teaching efforts.” were omitted from the total of 154 responses to the question.
10 Responses from one participant that selected both “Yes, my department rewards my teaching efforts.” and “No, I am not rewarded for my teaching efforts.” were omitted from the total of 49 responses to the question.
11 Responses from three participants that selected both “Yes, my department rewards my teaching efforts.” and “No, I am not rewarded for my teaching efforts.” were omitted from the total of 247 responses to the question.
12 Two participants did not identify a gender.
13 This occurs even when courses are identical and online (MacNell, Driscoll, and Hunt Citation2015; Mitchell and Martin Citation2018).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jennifer Woodward
Jennifer Woodward is an Assistant Professor at Middle Tennessee State University and Research Fellow at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy’s Center for Policy Research. Her scholarship focuses on the development and implementation of civil rights laws in education and employment. By looking at the potential of law, courts, and government agencies to shape and be shaped by society, she evaluates the everyday encounters between individuals and the laws designed to protect them. During her career, Woodward has worked at the College of William and Mary, American Bar Foundation, New York Latino Research and Resources Network, New York State Department of Civil Service, and the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her prior research includes publications on the formation of the National Organization for Women, the implementation of school desegregation in Nashville-Davidson County, TN and bilingual education laws in New York.
David Trowbridge
David Trowbridge is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. His research resides at the intersection of law and social movements, particularly in the area of cause lawyering.